thirty eight y.o. indonesian female. wife of a computer geek who is the best cook in the world. mother of two wonderful children. daughter. sister. aunt. crooked teeth *under construction with braces right now* straight teeth, but had eight taken out. medical receptionist. iowa, usa. goofball. photo enthusiast. corrective/contact lenses. traveler. ex smoker. started exercising every day in august 2011. cardio kick boxing and resistance training. dengue haemorrhagic fever (dhf) survivor. computer game addict. agnostic. blood fear. dislike narrow-mindedness. ex journalist. need 12 oz of coffee on weekdays. a bit of a clean freak. like sleeping too much. gutless flip-flopper. like the smell of new paper/stationery. seasonal depression (winter). always miss jakarta. fast learner. multitasker. can’t stand the sound of pots/pans rubbing together. mom’s side of family: dutch and north sumatra (batak/mandailing/harahap), dad’s side of family: malay and south sumatra (palembang/komring/syarifuddin). fond of horror/thriller movies. a believer of spongebob squarepants. studied industrial engineering for five years in indonesia, ended up working as a journalist. learned early childhood/elementary education for a while in the u.s., is now working in health industry. life’s so contradicting.

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77 comments

I love your blog – found it through IowaBlogNet. Your journals remind me not to look to far away from my own home for hapiness. The world out there is beating people up pretty bad.

I think it would be great if your Mom could come here. I am trying to get my stepmom to come live in IA with my brother and me. She only lives in PA, but she is still having a hard time wrapping her mind around it. My bro came out four years ago and it really saved his life. If nothing else, Iowa lets you get on with the business of having a good life. Thanks for a great blog.

If you get a chance, check out my blog. My goal is to help parents stay in touch with kid-friendly activities in DSM-area. If you have any tips, please send them. If you like it, please share it with your friends.

hey, u’re an agnostic ex-journalist?? never know…. which tabloid/newspaper did u work for?

And um… No offence here, but from what I observed, Indonesians outside Indonesia who used to embrace their religion (whatever it is among the big 5: Catholicism, Christianity, Islam, Buddhism, Hinduism) usually leave them for atheism or just be a free-thinker in their new country, am I right?

I dare bet that u were either a Muslim or a Christian during your old days in Indonesia, hehe… ^^

Yes, I was born and raised as a Moslem. Always been a lazy one and continued to be a skeptical one as also am to Christianity. I worked for Otomotif tabloid for about a year, then moved on to MOTOR magazine for four years.

thank you for dropping my blog and showing me the way to get into this wonderful blog. and you’re such a cool creature… ex journalist and agnostic 🙂 and even better, you’re also a coffee and sleep addict!!!

Hello, found your blog from blog-indo. Wonder if it’s ok to put your blog in the exat blog list at Indonesian Expatriates Forum. You are more than welcome to share your stories of living in a foreign country too there. Also if you know people who have the similar experience as ours, please let them know too. Cheers!

Hi diny,
thanks for visiting my blog.
Yes, being an agnostic is nothing to be ashamed of, but unfortunately, people in our country do not think that way. We might as well be lepers, because they see us that way.
Your blog is very interesting, do you mind me adding you to my blogroll?

OMG…
My Mom was at the Husada ICU room at that time.
When I was waiting at the ICU waiting lounge, I saw some people with rocker-like attribute, and there were western people too amongst them. I was wondering about them.
My bro told me that they’re there for a friend who was a victim of hit-and -run accident.
My bro also said that he’s Batak, but I forgot what his surname.
But when I was there on Saturday, my bro told us that the person has died. Then when I came to see my Mom, she told me that the person on the bed next to hers has just died.

The next day after he died, there were still 2 friends of him came around (both were foreigners -a man and a woman), and I think the security guy informed them that he’s passed away on Friday night…? (I heard him mentioned Friday).

It feels strange that I came across about it here and could finally find out a bit more about the person.
May he rest in peace and may his loved ones live proudly with the memory of him.

@Ori: Robin and I went to the same university but he’s a year younger. We hung out a lot. He’s a very popular guy because of his involvement in music. He’s also down to earth, funny, and friendly. What a great loss. Is your Mom OK now?

She’s better, but she’s still at the hospital (Husada)…almost 3 months. She suffers diabetes, and in January she got one of her toe amputated (that’s how she stayed at ICU room for 2 days), got healed for a while and went back home late Feb, but 2 weeks later had to be admitted back into hospital. Well..you know how hospitals in our country (talking about generalisation)…we (Mom, my family and I) can only pray and hope that she’ll get her health back soon. Thank you for asking Din 🙂

Hi D,
I am N, and accidentally I stumble upon your blog, it is an interesting view. You said you hate narrow mindedness… so do I , that is why I wrote my blog in Indonesian Language just to make it easier for the Indonesian to read my musing; which mainly aim as an eye opener for the Indonesian on what is going on at the other end of the globe.
I’d like to link your blog to mine, and hopping you link mine as well and who know….

Nice blog! I found it during blog-walking from blog-indonesia.com . Nice to see another ‘indonesian’ blogging about life outside Indonesia. I live in Spore. Can’t complain, life is nice here, only 1 hr away from Jakarta. Here’s a link to my bloghttp://turike-diva.blogspot.com.
Still a newbie compare to you :p
Keep on blogging.

Dinyfitha, – you are truly living your dreams to the fullest! I am so happy for you. Davi and Dante sound absolutely wonderful, and I bet you are the best medical receptionist in Iowa. I wish you all the happiness that can be had in the future. Great job on the blog writing, keep it up!

if only i paid more attention to ‘oma suzy’ -my grandmother-
when she’s spreken deutche; i would be able to speak trilingually. the only one that stuck in my mind was her “godverdomme!” while her blue/grey eyes gotten so big whenever she heard/saw me playing in the flood. ahh… good times… good times…

Hello! found your blog while looking up why would people call ‘bangs’ sassy… I don’t get it. The search took me to your bad hair cut story, I have fine hair and I decided to always cut my own bangs.
Great blog!

Hi there. Came across your blog by accident (i think it was the bangs post, coz I always wear one) and found funny similarities. I have never come across another person who loves horror movies and spongebob in the same breath. I’ve been to Indonesia in 1995, so I only speak a few Bahasa words. And I am a photojournalist. Other than that, it’s crazy to find you here. Have a good life too!

Halo Jojie, apa kabar? Thank you for stopping and leaving your comment. I’m so glad you found me (this blog). It’s mind boggling to see that you too like the horror movie and Spongebob as well. Where do you live?

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